Chapter 9

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Chapter 9: The Turtle

Cancan stared at the old man, bared her teeth, and was about to charge. However, the fluffy snow-white fox’s actions seemed ineffective, so the old man, feeling bored, transformed back into a turtle and leisurely crawled towards the sea.

Cancan caught up with quick steps, wanting to bite, but found it impossible due to the hard and slippery turtle shell. Unable to bite, she circled around the turtle, shouting, "You bad thing, don’t run away. Give Hua Qing back to me."

The turtle, silent, calmly said, "Even though you’re a foolish little fox, I have not harmed you. Do you think I can handle Hua Qing the Immortal? I believe you’re not a fox spirit, but a pig spirit, right?"

Cancan glared, "Don’t think I didn’t hear you insult me. You’re a pig, and your whole family are pigs." Cancan ran around the turtle, snarling, and the turtle, dizzy from the circling, withdrew its head into the shell, ignoring her. Feeling scorned, Cancan angrily snorted, "Cowardly turtle."

Inside the turtle shell came a muffled voice, "Have you ever seen a turtle not retract its head? Fish-lipped little fox."

Cancan angrily said, "Give me back Hua Qing!"

Hearing it repeat the same few lines over and over again, the old turtle finally stuck its head out of the shell, wanting to mock. Cancan seized the opportunity, bit down, and the old turtle said, "…"

"Let go," the muffled voice said.

Cancan refused, "Ahwoo, yin weh weh, oola!"

Alright, the old turtle understood on its own that Cancan was unwilling. The old turtle could do magic, but with its head in someone else’s mouth, even if it could use magic, it was afraid of hurting itself. It blamed itself for underestimating the situation.

"What do you want? Since you won’t let go, then we’ll just wait. Back in the day, the tortoise and the hare race, I, Grandpa, persisted to victory with this energy." The old turtle decided not to move, a fly buzzed past, then another… The old turtle couldn’t help but ask, "What do you want, what do you really want?"

Cancan said, "Bad, mm, clean."

The old turtle interpreted on its own, "I am a bad person, and should I give you Hua Qing back?"

Cancan looked at the old turtle with approval in her eyes and muttered, "I didn’t see Hua Qing at all, I only saw you. If I saw him, I wouldn’t run away like you did! Besides, why am I considered bad? Humans kidnapped my grandson and haven’t found him yet. Isn’t it right for me to make a fuss? When did I harm anyone? I just wanted to scare them. If they are sensible, they should hand over my grandson."

Hearing this, Cancan spat out the old turtle, and asked, "Your grandson was kidnapped?"

The old turtle took a step back, complaining, "Exactly. My good child just went out for a walk and disappeared. Was he kidnapped by humans or what? These people are really something, treating me like a weak kitten just because I’m not aggressive. If my grandson doesn’t come back, I will make noise every day."

Cancan thought for a moment and thought the old turtle made sense. She sat down on the ground and said, "Then where is my Hua Qing? He was out to catch you, right?"

Cancan was very puzzled. She heard that Hua Qing was specifically coming to catch the old turtle, but it quickly escaped into the sea and disappeared. Cancan stomped her feet, "They say turtles live for thousands of years, but why did it run so fast and disappear in an instant?"

Cancan bit her lip, looked around, the sea was calm, and Hua Qing was nowhere to be seen. She followed the coastline, worried if Hua Qing intentionally left her behind. Where could Hua Qing have gone?

Cancan was very worried and her eyes turned red. If she was still in Bronze Bull Town, she wouldn’t be so afraid. But now by the South Sea, she couldn’t find her way back. Thinking like this, Cancan felt abandoned and anxious.

"Hu Cancan, don’t be afraid, Hua Qing won’t leave you behind. He must have something important to do, don’t be afraid!" Cancan ran out of breath but kept reassuring herself. While running, Cancan suddenly felt a pinch on her foot. She looked down and saw a small crab acting boldly. Cancan sat down and grabbed the crab, but it bit her claw, causing her pain. She flung the crab away. The crab landed on the sand, scurried away quickly, and disappeared from Cancan’s sight. Cancan sat by the beach, watching the crab escape, feeling more wronged and hurt. She wanted to cry but felt embarrassed.

Looking around and seeing no one, Cancan wondered if she could cry quietly. It’s not embarrassing, right?

Cancan thought to himself and buried his head in the sand, like an ostrich, just wanting to quietly shed some tears without anyone seeing.

"Woah woah, Hua Qing, woah woah, don’t leave me behind, I can’t find my way home…" Cancan cried sadly, ending up with a mouthful of sand, but he didn’t care, just kept crying and mumbling, "I can’t go back. No one can find me."

"Why are you crying?" a cold male voice sounded.

Cancan continued to cry, "I can’t find Hua Qing, and I can’t find my way home. The big turtle bullies me, and the little crab bullies me too. They…"

"Didn’t I tell you to hide a bit further away?"

Before Cancan could finish, he was interrupted, he blankly pulled his head out of the sand, froze, "Hua, Hua Qing?" and rushed over, directly pouncing on Hua Qing, transforming into a beautiful girl in a blue dress in an instant.

Hua Qing was tackled by her, the two fell on the beach, rolling in a circle, Cancan rubbed his eyes and complained, "I thought you were gone."

Hua Qing calmed down a bit and said, "Get up and let’s talk."

Cancan refused, holding onto his neck tightly, "No! What if you run away?" After speaking, he hugged tighter, refusing to let go.

Hua Qing felt hot and irritated, he waved his hand and Cancan flew out and fell face first into the mud. Cancan spat out the mud and said, "Why did you hit me?" Hua Qing seemed unkind and cold-hearted, maybe he took a shortcut in cultivating immortality.

Hua Qing calmed down and asked, "Did you just see a turtle?"

Cancan glared at him, ignoring him and turning away, feeling quite upset.

If she wasn’t comforted, she wouldn’t say anything. Hmph!

Seeing Cancan throwing a tantrum, Hua Qing turned to leave. Cancan sneaked a peek at Hua Qing’s movements, and when she saw he not only didn’t apologize but also wanted to leave, she rushed up and hugged his leg, saying, "You can’t leave me."

Rubbing his temples, Hua Qing began to doubt whether bringing Cancan was the right decision. Why did he feel like his future wouldn’t be peaceful? He sighed, "Get up and walk properly, you said your clothes are precious, right?"

Hearing this, Cancan quickly got up, her sky-blue clothes now sandy. She hurriedly brushed off the sand, cleaned up for quite a while, and asked, "Does it look better now?"

Hua Qing asked, "Did you just meet a turtle?"

Cancan nodded, "An old turtle. I heard all the commotion here was caused by him. He said his grandson got kidnapped, so he wants to make a statement."

In fact, Hua Qing was just trying to follow the old tortoise in the sea. However, he always seemed to be a step behind. No matter how hard he chased, it felt like the tortoise was both close and far away. After a while, Hua Qing realized something was not right, but it wasn’t quite like a dream.

Now, Cancan said she saw the old tortoise. Hua Qing’s eyes lit up, "What did it say?"

Cancan tilted her head and said, "It didn’t even see you at all. When I told you to catch it, it ran away."

Hua Qing furrowed his brows, unsure of what was happening. He hesitated and said, "Cancan, hold onto this." Hua Qing handed the Guide Bell to Cancan. Cancan took the bell, happily shaking it. Suddenly, the sea roared with waves. Cancan froze, "What is this, what is this!" She quickly threw it back to Hua Qing, looking a bit scared.

Hua Qing suddenly reached out and slapped Cancan, but as his hand neared her forehead, the motion lightened. Suddenly, an illusion appeared in the sky – a small, snow-white fox was running for its life. It was tiny, its short legs seemed about to stumble at any moment… Hua Qing’s gaze shifted from the illusion to Cancan, who was frozen, staring wide-eyed at him in fear.

Hua Qing quickly pulled back his hand, not saying much. His brow furrowed tightly, as if entangled in something. Cancan cautiously asked, "What’s wrong with you?"

Dealing with this all day, she might just go crazy!

Hua Qing explained seriously, "This Guide Bell can only be heard by those with a fairy bone. Others can’t make it ring. But you are able to."

Cancan giggled excitedly, "So, does that mean I’m a fairy creature? That’s awesome! How about you, Hua Qing, take me as your apprentice? Since I have a fairy bone, I’ll definitely learn quickly."

Hua Qing shook his head, "No."

Cancan felt unhappy for a moment, but then she perked up and asked, "What are we going to eat tonight?"

Hua Qing chuckled, "Other than eating, do you know anything else?"

After thinking hard, Cancan still didn’t know. She smiled brightly at him, "I know you are a fairy, Hua Qing. Will you take me in? I’m good and I can even give you a massage!" She playfully tapped Hua Qing’s back.

Hua Qing had no expression and said, "Move aside a bit." Cancan noticed his expression, pouted, and moved away. Suddenly, he bit his finger and blood dripped. A yellow paper appeared out of nowhere. Cancan watched as he drew symbols on the paper with his blood, while she sat on the side making small sand houses.

Hua Qing didn’t stop writing. Seeing him still using his blood, Cancan felt sorry for him and said, "Fairy Hua Qing, use my blood instead? If you keep going like this, you’ll drain yourself dry and turn into a mummy."

Hua Qing glanced at Cancan, ignoring her. Cancan thought he was quite stubborn, "Hua Qing, what you’re doing is not right. I’m doing this for your own good. If you don’t want to listen to me, it’s fine, but why give me attitude, come on…"

Hua Qing directly placed a symbol on Cancan’s face. All the symbols flew up by themselves, forming an Eight Trigram Formation on the sea. Hua Qing dabbed a drop of blood on Cancan’s forehead, and she floated into the center of the Formation. A strong wind blew over the sea, and through illusions, Cancan was seen talking to an old turtle, chasing it to find Hua Qing. The turtle ran along the coast, then buried its head in the sand crying…

Hua Qing frowned deeper.

The wind got stronger, and a old turtle suddenly appeared on the sea surface. It was quickly trapped in the Eight Trigram Formation. Hua Qing saw it was trapped and flew up to rescue it from the center of the Eight Trigram Formation. He removed the yellow talisman from Cancan’s body, and there was a crackling sound.

All the talismans started burning, and Cancan finally realized, "Why did you put talismans on my face? And they all exploded, so scary. Are you going to explode me because you’re in a bad mood too?"

Hua Qing grabbed her wrist and walked away. Cancan kept looking back and asked, "Is that the old turtle you’re looking for? Why don’t you catch it? It’s so strange!"

"Let’s go find the baby turtle," said Hua Qing calmly.

Cancan, "Huh?"

"I trapped it, it can’t escape. But without finding the baby turtle, I can’t tame it either."

After five hundred years, the shattered colorful crystal of the Snowflake Glass was much more powerful than he expected. Though the old turtle was harmless, the colorful crystal was not. Their energies were in conflict, and fighting head-on would only cause harm to both. Only by fulfilling the old turtle’s wish and maximizing its good intentions would the colorful crystal be at its weakest. Of course, Hua Qing didn’t plan to tell Cancan any of this.

"Hua Qing, I knew you’re a good person," said Cancan, touching her face.

Hua Qing, "…"

"Where should we look for the little turtle? I don’t know where to start." Cancan pouted, feeling a bit unsure, but quickly perked up, "Where there’s a will, there’s a way." She smiled at Hua Qing, "We will find it!"

"Of course we will," Hua Qing replied calmly.

"So where should we look?"

"At a fancy restaurant."

"Huh? Why?" Cancan asked, confused.

Hua Qing stopped and said slowly, "I suspect it may have been taken to be made into turtle soup."